Samora Machel

Samora Machel (29 September 1933-19 October 1986) was the President of Mozambique from 25 June 1975 to 19 October 1986, preceding Joaquim Chissano.

Biography
Samora Machel was born on 29 September 1933 in Chilembene, Gaza Province, Mozambique to a family of Catholic farmers, and he joined protests against discriminatory laws that paid Portuguese nurses more than black ones. In 1964, he joined FRELIMO during the Mozambican War of Independence and came to prominence in 1970 when he succeeded Eduardo Mondlane as FRELIMO leader upon his assassination. Under Machel, FRELIMO involved from a broad front to a Marxist-Leninist party, and on 25 June 1975 he became the first president of Mozambique after the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. All health and education institutions were nationalized, and Machel would set up "re-education camps" for political opponents; these camps would be the graves for 30,000 people. Machel interfered in the Rhodesian Bush War in Southern Rhodesia by giving arms, training, and military support to ZANU against the white Rhodesian government. In 1977, the Mozambican Civil War broke out between the ruling FRELIMO and the South African-supported RENAMO, and Mozambique was drawn into the many civil wars in southern Africa in the 1980s. In 1986, Machel was killed in a plane crash over the Lebombo Mountains of South Africa while returning to Mozambique from a conference in Zambia.